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Yemenis demand release of Guantanamo inmates

Relatives of around 90 Yemenis held in US detention facility in Cuba say conditions there are "very poor".

01 Apr 2013 16:36 GMT

Yemeni detainees are among about 33 prisoners who the US military says went on hunger strike [AFP]

Activists and relatives of around 90 Yemeni detainees held in Guantanamo Bay have protested outside the US embassy in the capital, Sanaa, to demand the prisoners' release after more than a decade in detention.

Rights activist and protester Abdel-Rahman Barman said during Monday's demonstration that conditions at the prison were "very poor" and that at least two of the men there were on hunger strike.

Yemenis make up the largest contingent of the 166 detainees held at the US naval base in Cuba.

Most were detained in Afghanistan following the 2001 US invasion.

An embassy employee was seen accepting a letter from relatives of the detainees who protested. The embassy could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Yemeni detainees are among about 33 prisoners who the US military says went on hunger strike, including three who were hospitalised for dehydration.

The prisoners say they have been denied water and that the air conditioning was being kept frigid to punish them during a hunger strike. The military disputes the claims and says prisoners are also offered bottled water.

Protest halted

The largest of Guantanamo's hunger strikes began in the summer of 2005 and reached a peak of around 131 prisoners, when the facility held about 500 detainees.

The US military broke the protest by strapping detainees down and force-feeding them a liquid nutrient mix to prevent them from starving themselves to death.

The latest hunger strike began on February 6. It was prompted by what the prisoners considered more intrusive searches of their cells and of the Qurans that each man is issued by the government, as well as the more general complaint of their open-ended confinement without charge.

Seven apparent suicides have taken place at the prison. The latest was a 32-year-old Yemeni in September who had been held there for around 10 years. Two others were determined to have died from natural causes.

Yemen's government has requested its nationals in Guantanamo Bay prison be sent to Sanaa, and has suggested rehabilitating the detainees if they disavow militancy - a policy used with dozens of Saudis who were repatriated to their country.

Washington argues that Yemen, where al-Qaeda is active, is too unstable to prevent former prisoners from engaging in militant activities.

Barack Obama, the US president, had pledged to shut down the prison at Guantanamo soon after taking office but Congress opposed the move, passing a law that prohibits the government from transferring Guantanamo prisoners to US soil and requiring security guarantees before they can be sent elsewhere in the world.